


breathing out

by giftedsun



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Artist/Muse AU, But Not Much, F/F, Little bit of angst, also like. theyre in the french countryside because:?, chikas her muse but also she has chickens, hahahahahaha muse, riko is an artist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 12:31:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14355585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giftedsun/pseuds/giftedsun
Summary: Riko paints landscapes by day. She paints Chika by night.





	breathing out

By day, Riko paints landscapes. The sun rises, and Riko is there, recreating her view. Every nook of the French countryside is gorgeous, and Riko fills dozens of canvases with her everyday life. Some days she puts oil pastels in her hands and goes crazy, filling a canvas with bursting colors, not stopping until her fingertips are stained with reds, pinks, greens.

Her subject changes every day, but the idea stays the same. It’s just Riko, her palette, and whatever wide-sweeping area she’s chosen to paint that day. It’s a cycle: she wakes up, moves her easel to what she’s painting, and begins. She stays there until dinnertime, most days.

But by night, all she paints is Chika. Chika, the sweet girl who lives next door and keeps chickens and brought Riko a basket of fresh eggs the first day she moved in. Riko had smiled, thanked her, and invited her in. 

That’s when this whole thing had begun.

They ate lunch together, sunlight streaming over Chika’s bright hair. Looking back, it passes in snapshots for Riko— their legs brushing under the table, Chika’s laugher falling like raindrops, a brush of a warm hand over cool knuckles. Riko smiles for the first time in what feels like years. It hits her, how  _ lonely  _ she’s been. 

That night, Riko stays up with the stars. She paints and paints and paints, filling canvas upon canvas with this sunshine girl. She doesn’t just paint portraits. She details Chika’s eyes, makes a sunset out of her hair, constellations out of her pert freckles. Chika is everywhere, however, filling her tiny workroom, her mind, her heart, and her deft fingertips. Riko uses up all of her orange paint. 

When Chika comes over the next day for breakfast, she questions Riko when she yawns. Riko pulls her up by the wrist, and leads her to the back of the house, into the tiny workroom. Chika’s eyes widen as she sees her own face shine back at her, but she doesn’t look at them for long. Instead, Chika whirls around, places her hand on Riko’s face, and firmly kisses her on the lips.

Riko thinks it’s crazy. She thinks it’s absolutely insane, kissing this girl who she just met yesterday, feeling something for her. However, these thoughts flee her mind as Chika kisses her deeply, and grasps her hair, and then suddenly, they’re in her room, and there’s no room for thinking.

Chika, who always stays and eats breakfast at Riko’s small table, and interlaces their fingers.

* * *

“If you don’t want this to be a serious thing, that’s fine.” Chika says, and while Riko freezes, she’s up, and gone. By the time Riko realizes what’s just happened and runs to the door, Chika is gone and her lights are off. 

* * *

Hands shaking, Riko painstakingly paints dozens of flowers onto an envelope. They’re tiny, and she’s smudging a ton, but she’s still reeling from Chika leaving. Much to the contrary of what’s thought of her, Riko’s awful at speaking. She stutters, she messes up, she mispronounces. In the moment, she freezes. She lets the girl who’s been kissing her senseless for weeks go. Riko’s much, much better with writing. That’s why she’s been painting flowers for the last 40 minutes. Not so much for the envelope, but for the letter inside it.

* * *

 

_ … I don’t know how I managed to make you think that this means nothing to me. Chika, dearest Chika, how can I explain that this is everything to me? You are everything. You’re extraordinary, from top to bottom, and was pulled into your sphere the moment I laid eyes on you. Forgive my obtuseness, my insecurity. I only ever meant to make you comfortable. _

_ Chika. I want this to be serious.  _

_ Be my girlfriend? _

_ love, _

_ Riko _

* * *

 

She slides it under Chika’s door, and sits down on the stoop. One of the chickens come out and squawks at her, and she gives it a smile. After a while, it occurs to her that she should maybe knock, hour of day be damned. When she turns around, the letter is gone.

Riko blinks once, twice, and then, quite predictably, the door is flung open.

Chika’s crying. She cries a lot, Riko’s seen her weep more times than she can count, but still, it hits her in her gut. She doesn’t have much time to ponder it, however, as Chika all but throws herself at Riko.

“Yes,” She gasps, hiccuping, “I’ll be your girlfriend. Riko, Riko, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left.”

Riko holds her tighter, grateful for the feeling of Chika in her arms.  

 

**Author's Note:**

> hahahaha chika is a MUSE....... get it


End file.
